242
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
found. Dr. Maclean, about 1835, mentions a nest taken near Colchester (16).
Daniel says (6. ii. 437) : At Langleys, in Essex, the seat of " Mr. Tufnell, some
years since, a Woodcock flew through
the hall window in the day time—
whether pursued by a hawk, or de-
ceived by the thorough light from
the opposite windows, is unknown."
He adds (6. ii. 441), " Young
Woodcocks have been found in the
High Woods, near Colchester ; "
also that at the time of their migra-
tion they are sometimes found in
"great "abundance upon the Essex
coast, especially in the large woods
at St. Osyth." Dr. Bree (32a)
notes a female containing eggs found
in a garden in Colchester on Apr. 15, 1865, and also a female picked up close to
the town on July 24, 1869. The late Mr. Errington, of Lexden Park, had some
preserved specimens of the bird and its eggs, also taken in the Colchester High
Woods (Laver). Although common in the wooded districts around Laindon.
Burstead and elsewhere, it is infrequent in the more open Orsett district. On
Oct. 31st, 1887, however, during full moon, a young man who was catching black-
birds with a bat-fowling net along the hedges of a lane close to Orsett Street, cap-
tured one which sprang out of a ditch by the road-side (Sackett). Mr. John
Cordeaux writes (40. xii. 62), under date of Nov. 10th :
" A curious note comes to me from the Swin Middle L.V. : when the lantern
was lowered at sunrise a fine Woodcock was found dead on the top. Now if the
bird had struck the lantern in flight, it would either have fallen on deck cr into
the sea ; the probability therefore is that it alighted on the lantern top, and
simply died from exhaustion."
Woodcocks " are not unfrequent visitors to the Forest in the winter months,
but the absence of springs and the hardness of the soil are unfavourable to them,
and they are never numerous where cattle have access. They do not, therefore,
generally remain long, but instances have been known of their staying through
the summer and breeding" (Buxton—47. 95).
Henry Doubleday writes (10) on Apr. 9th, 1844 : " On Sunday afternoon a
lad was walking through our forest and put up a Woodcock, and on looking at the
spot she rose from, found four eggs which he brought to me." The Rev. J. W.
Maitland also has two nests, taken in Epping Forest, while Mr. Harting writes
(41. i. 166) : —
"On the 6th April [1887] * * * four Woodcocks were flushed in different
parts of the Forest. * * » On the 6th of August last » * » while walking at twi-
light in the neighbourhood of Loughton Camp, I came suddenly upon an old
Woodcock and two full-fledged young ones. They all rose at my approach within
a few yards of me, but the young ones not being strong on the wing, dropped again
within a very short distance."
In the extensive woods around Danbury, Mr. Smoothy frequently meets with
them during winter, and shoots, on an average, about seven couple 'every season,
though in 1883-4 he killed nine couple, and in 1888-9 ten couple. He has kept
account of the weights of all he has shot during the last few years, and finds the
average to be 12 oz., though two have reached 16 oz. It probably breeds in the
woods as he has seen it late in the spring,